JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-842
Jerusalem News-842
25 Shevat 5769, 19 February 2009
Contents:
1. Are Fictional Reports Wishful
Thinking?
President Obama
[Allegedly] Authorized Funds for the Immigration of
Hamas
Refugees From Gaza to the United States-Fiction!
2. Some New IDF
Weapons
3. Terror victims sue U.S. oil companies for funding terror
1. Are Fictional Reports Wishful
Thinking?
President
Obama
[Allegedly] Authorized Funds for the Immigration of
Hamas
Refugees From Gaza to the United States-Fiction!
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/obama-palestine-refugees.htm
Extracts:
Summary of the eRumor:
A forwarded email saying that President Obama has signed an executive order
granting a $20,300,000 expenditure to allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinian
refugees who are loyal to Hamas to immigrate to the United States.
The Truth:
According to published reports, in January, 2009, by the Associated Press,
President Obama authorized an emergency contribution of $20.3 million solely for
"urgent relief efforts in the Gaza Strip." The State Department issued no
statement regarding any plans or policies for immigration of Gaza refugees out
of the Middle East.
The U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) fund was set up in
accordance to the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 where the
President of the United States may determine that funds be released to aid
refugees for relief and migration. President Obama issued this determination
on January 27, 2009. Click here for the Presidential Order
The authorization was issued a day after the United Nations launched an appeal
for $613 million to aid Palestine in recovery efforts. The article said, "The
money will go to U.N. agencies and the International Committee of the Red
Cross, which are distributing emergency food assistance, providing medical care
and temporary shelter, creating temporary employment and restoring access to
electricity and potable water."
There is an official release detailing the distribution of funds on the
America.Gov web site. Click for details.
This was shortly after the world focus was on Gaza when Israel launched a
military operation that lasted three weeks in efforts to neutralize Hamas rocket
launchers that had been targeting Southern Israel. Many locations within the
Gaza area were deemed targets by Israel including Hamas intelligence
headquarters, locations of rocket-launchers, squads, and a tunnel used for
smuggling weapons from outside sources.
The outcome of the Israeli operation dealt a severe blow to Hamas with an
estimate of $2 billion in damages reported along with the deaths of 1,300
Palestinians including Hamas commando Mohammed Shalpokh which Israel blamed for
the rocket attacks against them from northern Gaza.
It is not uncommon that a President issue such an order. President George W.
Bush determined that funds be sent to refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, and Sudan
more than once during his terms in office.
2. Some New
IDF
Weapons
IDF begins using 'James Bond'
gadgetry
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 17, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304811438&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
Some gadgets look like they came straight out of a James Bond movie. One is
a softball-sized camera that can be thrown into a suspect house and transmit
images to soldiers outside. Another is a special door-buster that is
connected to an M-16 and can blow open booby-trapped portals.
On Tuesday, the IDF Ground Forces Command put these weapon systems and
others - most of them used during last month's Operation Cast Lead in the
Gaza Strip - on display in a military base in the South.
Called the Eyeball, the spherical camera was developed by the Tel Aviv-based
company ODF Optronics.
An advanced, audio-visual surveillance sensor, the Eyeball was used by IDF
troops during the Gaza offensive to survey homes and suspicious areas before
entering them.
Each unit is only slightly larger than a baseball and can be simply thrown
into the area that needs to be checked out. It can also be mounted on a pole
or lowered on a cable into a tunnel.
Another product from the same company is the Eyedrive, a lightweight,
four-wheel, remote-controlled, observation and surveillance mini-robot that
provides continuous, real-time 360?audio and video surveillance. Due to its
durability, the robot can be thrown on the ground, go down stairs, flip over
and keep on going.
The IDF also tested the HTR 2000, a new sniper rifle that will be
distributed to all infantry battalions. It has a range of more than 1,000
meters and can be used with a special night-vision add-on scope. The
adjustable heavy tactical rifle is made by H-S Precision INC in the United
States.
Also used for the first time during the offensive was the Matador
shoulder-launched anti-structure munition.
Used by infantry to destroy Hamas positions inside homes and other
structures, the Matador incorporates an advanced tandem warhead concept that
can be operated in two modes: against fortified positions and other
structures, and to create a hole in a wall without destroying the inside of
a home.
The system was acquired by the IDF in light of the Second Lebanon War, when
infantry forces had problems hitting Hizbullah positions inside homes in the
absence of a tank or attack helicopter.
The Ground Forces Command also put the IDF's new armored personnel carrier
on display. The Namer (Tiger) is based on the same platform as the Merkava
MK4 Battle Tank and has the same high-level of reinforced steel protection.
"The Ground Forces Command is more prepared today than it was in the past
decade to deal with the threats and challenges in the North and the Gaza
Strip," OC Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi said.
3. Terror victims sue U.S. oil companies
for funding terror
By Yossi Melman
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065339.html
Extracts:
American and Israeli victims of terrorism have filed a precedent-setting suit
against three U.S. oil companies and their directors, charging them that they
indirectly assisted the funding of terrorist organizations. This is the first
time that Israeli victims of terrorism have filed a suit of this kind against
American firms.
To date, most suits by terror victims were filed against Arab or Iranian
individuals, terrorist groups, Iran and various Arab states.
The suit argues that the companies and their directors traded with Saddam
Hussein's Iraq during the period 2000-2003 under the framework of the United
Nations' Oil for Food program. Investigative reporting and a UN probe revealed
that bribes were paid and other violations were carried out in order to bypass
the limitations set by the program, which was meant to allow Iraq to sell some
of its oil in order to purchase food and medical equipment for the civilian
population of Iraq.
The UN probe concluded that Saddam Hussein and senior officials of his regime
also transferred funds to terrorist organizations and the families of suicide
bombers, in order to encourage terrorism during the intifada.
Saddam Hussein announced at the time that he would make a $25,000 contribution
to the family of each terrorist. Among those benefiting from the money were
Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades of Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the Arab Liberation
Front, a group set up during the 1960s by Iraqi intelligence.
The suit emphasizes that the aim of these groups was to engage in systematic and
widespread acts of terror, crimes against humanity and genocide with the
publicly stated goal of destroying and eliminating the state of Israel and
ethnically cleansing its Jewish population. The suit also mentions dozens of
attacks that claimed the lives of more than 100 Israelis.
In 2007 the companies and the directors were tried, admitted part of the charges
against them and reached plea bargains which included jail time and millions in
fines.
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